Jimmy Shergill is a playing a political strongman in Mukkbaaz. The film also features Vineet Singh, Ravi Kishan and Zoya Hussain in important roles.

Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz tells the story of a backward caste boxer who wants to rise above the federation politics and hindrances. He says that the film takes a cue from mythological texts, “Our films largely do not address issues like caste. So, even if we barely talk about the issue, it becomes big. The film finds a parallel with the Ramayana. Ravana was a Brahmin.”

In Mukkabaaz, Jimmy Shergill plays the character of Bhagwan Das Mishra, an upper caste don in Uttar Pradesh.

Watch the interview here

Jimmy Shergill’s character, who has blood-red eyes in the trailer, received a lot of attention. Kashyap reveals the idea behind it. “We would tell him not to sleep. There is a back story to it. He plays a man who was a boxer earlier and his one eye is made of stone. These things might not be in the film, but Jimmy Shergill’s character is an amalgam of such incidents.”

Mukkabaaz is about a struggling boxer, played by Vineet Singh. Kashyap sheds light on the theme, “It’s the love story of a sportsman. It’s also about survival. It’s about reaching district or the state level. That’s the area we don’t know much about. Sportspersons and dreams get formed and crushed there.”

He further said, “We have made this film with a lot of consultation with federations and actual boxers. We didn’t know about many things when we started such as the difference between amateur and pro boxing. Who is eligible to participate in the Olympics? The government allots money for a particular sport, but how is it spent?”

“Boxing federation is fairly recent. Before that, players used to live in ‘dharmshalas’ (inns) while officials lived in five stars. We did video research, everything is documented. We went to a venue which was supposed to be hosting a tournament and while a function was taking place there, the actual game was being played under a makeshift tent,” added Anurag Kashyap.

Mukkabaaz that also features Ravi Kishan and Zoya Hussain and will release this Friday, January 12.